This blog by Amol Pawar discusses the relative costs and benefits associated with SaaS versus On Premise deployments of HR technology. It's an interesting piece and worth a read if your firm is considering purchasing options.... But, I also wanted to raise a word of caution.

This type of analysis typically works on the - not unreasonable - assumption that SaaS products are delivered through a browser. As a result, the cost of delivery is dramatically reduced - no workstation installation cost, reduced support cost and so on.

This is the case in virtually every business technology market.... but not ours. In the Executive Search technology space, many of the "SaaS" applications are cloud hosted but still require Windows software to be installed and supported. As a result, while these products may have a SaaS payment model, they rarely deliver all of the cost savings.

Last year, Dillistone Systems became the first mainstream executive search technology platform to offer a browser only delivery experience via our FileFinder Anywhere app. We do offer a WIndows product for those that require it, but many of our clients work exclusively through a browser and therefore enjoy the true benefits of the SaaS delivery model. Since we launched the product, we've seen a dramatic increase in demand reflecting the significance of the change.

So, my message to buyers would be - Cloud is the future. SaaS is typically the best way to buy..... But not all SaaS products are the same.... Think before you buy!

{

What’s noteworthy here that the cost for SaaS is just the vendor fees and does not include maintenance or other fee. So how does one arrive at the total cost of ownership between a On Premise vs SaaS solution?